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Community colleges in Montana

There are 11 two-year, predominantly associate-degree-granting community colleges in Montana reporting to the U.S. Department of Education. Median published in-state tuition across the state is $3,610 per academic year — among the most affordable postsecondary options anywhere in the country.

This page is a working directory: every institution links to a full profile with cost, enrollment, completion, and transfer numbers. The lists below highlight the most affordable, the largest, and the most transfer-active campuses in Montana, drawn from the same Department of Education data four-year admissions offices use to evaluate incoming transfer applicants. If you are weighing a community-college start before continuing to a four-year program, the transfer rate column is the single most useful comparison.

Most affordable in-state tuition in Montana

  1. Chief Dull Knife CollegeLame Deer$1,960
  2. Fort Peck Community CollegePoplar$2,250
  3. Aaniiih Nakoda CollegeHarlem$3,080
  4. Little Big Horn CollegeCrow Agency$3,200
  5. Blackfeet Community CollegeBrowning$3,610

Full Montana cost ranking → Tuition reference →

Largest community colleges in Montana

  1. Flathead Valley Community CollegeKalispell1,202
  2. Great Falls College Montana State UniversityGreat Falls894
  3. Miles Community CollegeMiles City332
  4. Blackfeet Community CollegeBrowning286
  5. Fort Peck Community CollegePoplar282

Full enrollment ranking →

Strongest transfer outcomes

Share of full-time entrants who transferred to another institution within 150% of program length.

  1. Dawson Community CollegeGlendive40%
  2. Miles Community CollegeMiles City20%
  3. Great Falls College Montana State UniversityGreat Falls15%
  4. Flathead Valley Community CollegeKalispell15%
  5. Little Big Horn CollegeCrow Agency2%

Montana transfer guide →

All 11 community colleges in Montana

InstitutionCityEnrollmentIn-state tuition
Aaniiih Nakoda CollegeHarlem106$3,080
Blackfeet Community CollegeBrowning286$3,610
Chief Dull Knife CollegeLame Deer183$1,960
Dawson Community CollegeGlendive189$5,010
Flathead Valley Community CollegeKalispell1,202$4,912
Fort Peck Community CollegePoplar282$2,250
Great Falls College Montana State UniversityGreat Falls894$4,028
Little Big Horn CollegeCrow Agency253$3,200
Miles Community CollegeMiles City332$5,818
Pima Medical Institute-DillonDillon0—
Stone Child CollegeBox Elder193$3,610

About community college in Montana

Montana's 11 community colleges serve as the primary on-ramp into postsecondary education for hundreds of thousands of residents each year. They award associate degrees, occupational certificates, and — through articulation agreements with public and private four-year institutions — transferable general-education credit. For most students, the financial argument is decisive: published in-state tuition averages a small fraction of state-flagship sticker price, and many community-college students qualify for the full federal Pell Grant, eliminating tuition entirely.

If you intend to transfer, the most important question to ask any Montana community college is which four-year institutions accept its credit on a course-for-course basis. The state's strongest transfer pipelines tend to feed regional public universities, but well-prepared students from accredited community colleges in Montana routinely transfer into selective private institutions as well. Use the transfer-rate column above as a starting filter, then consult the receiving university's transfer admissions office to confirm specific course equivalencies.

Career-focused students should pay attention to the local labor market as much as to the institution. Montana's community colleges concentrate heavily in health-care occupations, mechanical and engineering technology, business administration, and skilled-trades programs aligned to regional employers. The Bureau of Labor Statistics' state-level wage data is the right reference for setting expectations on starting salary by field. Where this site reports earnings, the figure is median earnings ten years after first enrollment, drawn from the College Scorecard's match against federal tax records.